Often people consider their various chronic health challenges as separate problems. It is not an unusual to find a person having not only one chronic health condition, but having two or more. This is not because they are unlucky, and it is not random or coincidental. The reason this happens so often is due to the story of the Tree trunk and it’s branches. Through the trunk the branches are nourished, if the trunk is unhealthy, the branches will not be healthy. The visual of this metaphor is an unhealthy tree trunk and on various branches lie different chronic health conditions. Click link to visit our YT channel and learn more.

OK- I’ve been posting mostly on instagram and FB of late, but I wanted to be certain everyone saw this just in case. For those of you seeking protein substitutes and considering Beyond Meat, this article came to my computer this morning. We felt it was critcal to share. We have been eating some of this in our family the past few months and now, it will be on the X list:due to the soy, yeast, GMO overload as well:

https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/fake-meat-junk-food

Anyone who has worked with us over the years knows how important spring water has been in our program. As time passes we are trying to do more to create other options for clean water. But for now, this has been our recommendation. Most importantly, knowing the source of your water so that one is able to minimize toxins in the body in order to get well is critical.

This lawsuit just cam to my attention and I am stunned. I knbow a large number of our patients have been consuming Poland Springs water over the years. If you are one of them, you will want to read this:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/poland-spring-accused-defrauding-consumers-peddling-water-phony-springs-n989086

Completely unbelievable, yesterday I received a call from a patient who has gone through treatment and been well for years. As I listened, I could not believe the timing after having posted what I did just the night before. It was as if someone was pulling my leg.

It started with, oh, “I am so glad to speak with you Dr. Brizman.” And, I said,” tell me what’s wrong.” She said, “Well, I am not sure what happened, but, I will tell you how all of this went, the best I can”. The story was long, but, here is the bottom line: upper respiratory infection that ultimately turned into a situation that became so bad she went to her MD and took antibiotics. Over a few week period, she recovered, but then suddenly and unexpectedly came down with an horrif case of diarrhea. The diarrhea was debilitating, the kind one can only stay home with because it has you tied to the bathroom. Along with it, was intensive cramping. Of course she was scared, but what followed bext was more scary! After a couple of days of diarrhea, her old familiar bladder pain came back! She had not experienced this in years. It was so bad she thought she had an infection. She went to the doctor and of course, they prescribed more antibiotics. However, her conversation with me was just after.

I have her on herbs now to try and repair the damage the antibiotic had on her microbiome and GUT. This was the same antibiotic strangely as the patient I was speaking about last night. However, that is really irrelevant because antibiotics of all kinds can cause this dynamic and antibiotics are not the only cause of IC.

I will keep everyone posted about these two cases as, it is kind of interesting to see two different examples of the onset of these symptoms, one for the ifrst time, and another re-triggered.

Dr.M

Most remember the day their IC started, or at least the day, they drew the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The problem is, is that most people don’t know anything about IC when it starts, so they don’t understand what is happening to their body, let alone what to do about it.

Recently, a young person we know, having taken antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection came to speak with me. Her health has been perfect up until now, her diet fantastic, her life-style clean. One month after the antibiotic she took, she began experiencing bladder pain and urgency. She was going to go back to her doctor and explain that she had a bladder infection, but she thought to speak to me first. We discussed the series of events that had taken place in the last weeks of her life and went over a bit of history. As she explained, it did not take me long to figure out the cause of her bladder problems. There was an absolute and direct correlation between the use of this antibiotic and the beginning of her bladder symptoms.

There was no history of birth control pills, or alcohol use, or overuse of medication. In fact this patient has never been on any medication at ll in her life. She is quite young. She is very lucky that she was able to discuss this with someone who understands this condition, rather than going about these symptoms in a conventional manner which would surely have led to more antibiotics and a quick worsening of symptoms. This could have been the pivotal point in this young person’s life where something so ordinary turned into something horrific.

It’s now about ten days later, and it is already considerably better, perhaps about 70%. We will continue to work on this until it goes completely.

Understanding how your IC started is so important to the process of unraveling it. Education is critical. It’s a part of what we do. Please go to @interstitialcystitisaltmed on instagram and ICAMA youtube where we are posting clips to educate to help prevent and treat IC and chronic health issues. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgkAP06tlP3luldlIUJRRQ?view_as=subscriber

I didn’t see it coming, I was totally unaware of how what I ate could lead to disease. I had a high sugar diet all my life. There were some early signs; acne in my teens, for which I started taking the pill, and a diagnosis of PCOS. Once I came off the pill in my late 20s and started to take a multivitamin to help get my body in the best shape in preparation for a pregnancy, things started to go wrong. Within the space of about six months things started to unravel. Bloating, abdominal pain, a colonoscopy, an allergic reaction to an antibiotic for a misdiagnosed bowel infection, a miscarriage and a laparoscopy to find out what was going on. I woke up from that laparoscopy feeling really unwell. Vaginal burning, itching, a constant full bladder feeling, urgency, frequency. Within a few weeks, this was in 2010, I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis.
Urologists told me I would have this chronic disease for life.
I was prescribed medication for IC that had the potential to damage my liver, so decided not to take it. I searched and searched for a practitioner who could help me get better naturally. I flew to London, and worked with a herbalist for a year. I made a bit of progress.

Then I found out about Dr. Matia Brizman.
My husband and me flew to LA, and after that initial visit I started monthly phone consults. Slowly my health improved. I learned how my intestinal health was really poor and how that made my body sick. Slowly we rebuilt. Feeling a bit better every month, with the occasional set back. It took 3 years for me to get well and be completely symptom free. I had a baby daughter and two and a half years later another baby daughter. Literally dreams coming true. I am forever grateful for finding Dr. Brizman and how her natural treatment and guidance got me better.

This is OUTSTANDING and incredible! a MUST read!

An email from a patient

Patient: He (husband who is also our patient) now has this really acute gum infection and in past has not responded well to antibiotics. The dentist cleaned some of it up and put some antibiotics in but she wants him to take some more orally. Are there some Chinese herbs you could recommend that are good for these kind of really bad gum infections. Last time many years ago you gave us some herbal recommendations when he had puss on another gum area and it really helped. He was able to avoid taking antibiotics. She recommends surgery down the line and says it has to do with a structural cavity and there is a lot of bone loss, so he will need bone grafting. This is something down the line though. Can you recommend some herbs to get this infection under control instead of the antibiotics

My Reply: Best herbs for gum infections: ear gml and goldenseal or ear 49 and goldenseal-do you have any of those? (patient does not have them) Try taking 2 goldenseal four times per day and see if that works.
You can also blend in 10 drops oil of oregano with it. That may be strong enough.

Patient: Do you think you might be able to find an alternative and create a plan to avoid surgery? The dentist says he needs to do a surgery that Might … work and says the hole is so deep her pocket instrument got lost in it; all the way down. She says there is so much bone loss he will need bone grafting. Thanks Matia his lymph node infection improved 50% and today he did not have to take any pain relievers today. Hopefully it keeps improving….

My Reply: It MAY be that this approach lets his body heals. I would give it a few weeks to see, also gargle with the goldenseal too

Patient: OK , but the bone loss too?

My Reply:The body can do amazing things when given the chance. Let’s see what happens and check on his progress.

Patient: I wished I could have remembered on my own how to treat ___ with the herbs and how you taught me to use them in different situations. Thank you for helping us dodge this bullet. He says today his gums and his lymph node are 90% better!

Thanks so much

XX ______

My Reply: Aww so coool!!!!!! Yay!!!

Would you mind posting something on our YouTube channel comments to that effect
You can start an account to make yourself anonymous if you prefer.
Just that he was told to get surgery abx, etc….
And something simple turned it completely around. People need to be aware.

Patient: Yes of course! I have so many more examples when you SAVED us. I need to think back and make a list. Aside from my IC there were some really bad cases of food poisoning, bronchitis, asthma attacks. It’s hard to remember…..

It would be my pleasure

My Reply: Thank you thank you!!! No enough people take the time to write in and we need all the stories because people have little faith or hope and worse are loaded with despair. Stories help!!

Patient: Honestly, I believe the part of your magic is the encouragement and hope that you do give us. It really is a holistic approach. You can’t separate the body and the mind. I know there is science behind your treatments but we also know that studies have been done on the power of the mind. So few practitioners do what you do. You don’t bullshit your patients but you do say such powerful and encouraging words. Just reading that last e-mail , reminding how powerful the body is to heal itself really lifted me up.

You are very special 🙂

My Reply: Wow ____
These are super meaningful, touching and welcomed words at a time when I really need them. Thank you!!!

New video substantiating the removal of the synthetic form of folate (folic acid) from their products. https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#inbox/164fb8a622a6751d?projector=1

Lentil Cracker Bread

3/4 c red lentils (soaked overnight and drained)
1 t. Salt
Just a tad under 1 c. Water

Process in a food processor a couple of minutes. Pour onto a parchment lined cookie sheet that has first been drizzled with olive oil. Bake at 425 for 22 min. Cut into desired shapes after cooking with a pizza cutter.

*When cool, it is delicious pan fried on both sides in a little olive oil, then put a slice of avocado on top each slice with a pinch of salt. I can eat 4 small squares twice a day.

Bean Waffles

1/2 c. Cooked and rinsed navy beans
1/4 c. Mashed kabocha squash
1 egg
1/2 T. Oil
Pinch salt
1/4 t. Cinnamon (if tolerated)
1/4 t. Baking soda
1/4 t. Vanilla (if tolerated)

Process in a food processor til a nice batter. Cook in hot, greased waffle iron til golden.

*I have used it as a bread for a sandwich, which is really nice on a grain free diet.

I hope others like these recipes as much as I do!

http://time.com/5349896/23andme-glaxo-smith-kline/

From IC to My Best Life

In the years just prior to my diagnosis, I lived a decidedly amazing life. The existence I had going wasn’t just kind of good but it was one that truly looked blessed at the time and had been, on many occasions, actually called “amazing” by the people that know me well. Much of this perception came from the thought of how much my life had changed since my childhood. In my 30s, before IC entered the picture I loved the day to day. I was fit and happy. I rarely got sick and didn’t even know who my primary care doctor was. I married my person in this world and we lived in a charming neighborhood near the downtown area of Denver, only a few minutes from a company I had built and was made CEO of at a precocious age of 34. We had children and both were born healthy. The truth; well, the truth I know now, is that my existence was not that great. Much of the way I had to lived growing up and some of the commonplace practices of my adult life had created growing imbalances around me and within my body. Back then I didn’t know I was on a journey and didn’t know I was traveling down a dark path. One that is so clear to me now but that I was oblivious to at the time.

From time to time I read a book called Awareness, by Anthony deMellow. The stories keep me centered. The premise is that most of us don’t change until we hit rock bottom. We seek relief, we mask our issues, and talk about our trials ad nauseam. It isn’t until we run out of these things that we look at where we’ve sank only to find there is only one hard path left to walk. I grew up in rural Alaska. My mother was terminally ill and severely disabled. My siblings and I cared for her while we raised each other. My father worked away from home. It was a kids raising kids environment. It was a place of duress and uncertainty. At 17 I was able to acquire a job doing manual labor on the trans-Alaskan pipeline on the northern ice flats of the US and eventually got myself into college in Colorado and my siblings moved there as well. The five of us climbed up from rock bottom. My sister worked for a meat-packing plant to pay for her college and is also a CEO of a successful company. We climbed up and up and out. It was from these circumstances that I built the “amazing” life I lived before I was diagnosed with IC. And, the place from where I would fall to a rock bottom beyond imagining.

After my second child was born, my body mostly made its way back into shape and good health. I was 38, ran a large company and was raising two kids. There were plenty of excuses that both the doctors and I could come up with for why I continued to feel fatigued and experienced difficulty in maintaining my usual positive mood with each sunrise. It was during this time that I started to have what I thought was repeated urinary tract infections, something I had little encounter with before. It seemed that I would contract one for almost any reason: sex, swimming or not showering the moment I got home from the gym. Looking back, I now can see that only one of the many trips to the doctor during these six months actually resulted in a conclusive infection. The other episodes only produced symptoms similar to UTI.

A few months later, the two kids and I traveled to visit family about 3 hours out of town and during the night, I woke with again, what I thought was a terrible UTI. I went to the rural Colorado emergency room in the area and they gave me an antibiotic. I felt anxious, really tired and struggled with the constant feeling like I needed to use the bathroom. And when I did, it burned. I was traveling with a baby and a toddler. It was an unforgettable miserable experience. As the days went on, I remember thinking that something seemed really wrong. I took yet another prescribed antibiotic and was able to recover some. But within a week of completing the antibiotics and without doing any of the things that normally agitated my system, the symptoms resurfaced. I was instructed to drink plenty of water, to stay away from coffee and to use the over-the-counter medicine AZO to numb the bladder and help me get more consecutive hours of sleep. I had been getting up 3-6 times each night to go to the bathroom or to drink water to stay extra hydrated. The messages from the doctors were confusing, the fatigue all-encompassing and my steadfast mood of good cheer much harder to find.

Over the next few months, I lived in almost constant discomfort and pain. It felt like my kidneys were going to explode, which made my back flanks tender, even to the touch. I developed a rash on my stomach and chest. My hands, feet and face were puffy and I had terrible headaches that hurt round the clock. My vision was blurry often and sometimes I couldn’t read street signs or drive after dark. I have always been a thin small framed person, but during this time, my stomach was permanently distended, constantly making noise, full of pinch pains and nausea. I started to wear my maternity clothes again, to keep the pressure of my stomach and bladder area. No matter how simple and clean the food I would select to eat was, everything I ate bothered my digestion. Sometimes food made me so nauseated that I would skip meals while taking magnesium to help flush my system back to some level of comfort and recognizable size. The whites of my eyes had yellowed and became red with veins. My hair fell out in shocking amounts, when I washed it. My eyelashes thinned to almost nothing. My fingernails had unending ridges and splits. After a life of commitment to rigorous exercise, I gave up any extra activity all together. My muscles were weak and my joints hurt. I couldn’t even escape it at night, as I woke constantly feeling freezing cold and wrought with nightmares. When I did get up in the mornings, I thought about whether or not I would get to come home for a short nap that day and how early I could maybe lay down to rest that night. I was exhausted starting with the moment I got out of bed. One of my wrists and one of my knees hurt so badly that I had trouble lifting my beautiful one year old baby to hold him.

It had been about 10 months since the issues started. By then, my mood was so down that I had to pray and focus before I walked out of my room in the morning to greet my kids and breathe before I walked into meetings for work. I had ceased going into the office unless it was absolutely necessary, saving all my energy to showcase myself it was absolutely necessary. I had a terrible time concentrating and had to plan the times that I would make key decisions for my family or the company. I would plan a nap and drink coffee, then focus exclusively on the subject at hand. I was a shadow of the keen ball of energy that ran one of the largest companies in our industry and a thriving home. I had a permanent puffy sheet-white face. The rash had now moved to cover my entire torso, front and back, as well as, one arm, my neck and to my devastation – it had made its way to my chin and jaw. My immune system was down and I started to get every sickness that kids brought home from daycare. I had goopy congested eyes that I could not seem to fight off, a terrible chest cold that had left me sleeping sitting up for over a month and back pain sever enough to make me unable to sit in a chair at times. My eyes and nose felt irritated and clogged with mucus. If I were to go swimming or to have sex, it would take almost 4 weeks for the irritation in my bladder to subside, during which time I would hardly be able to sleep. I needed to go to the bathroom constantly and my urine burned at each of these frequent visits.

I had been in to see my primary care doctor, an urologist, an internist, a nutritionist and into the emergency room five times in less than eight weeks. None knew what was wrong with me and most of the appointments left me more confused and less sure of what to try next. One specialists would tell me I need to drink more water, while another would tell me I had been drinking too much water. Some wanted me to get more activity and others told me I needed to let my body completely rest. Most wanted to put me on daily low dose antibiotics, as a precaution should any of my mounting symptoms build towards an actual infection. This was the most confusing, since during all of these months only one of the dozens of UTI scares had concluded in an actual infection. One appointment ended with the doctor asking if I had considered seeking psychiatric help to assist with what he had witnessed as a dramatic change in character.

One day, I was at a luncheon for work downtown and I found myself in so much pain that I thought I was going to pass out and fall off my chair. I managed to get my car from the valet and drive myself to the ER where one young female doctor there recognized that I had interstitial cystitis and formally diagnosed me. She immediately spoke to what I had experienced. She recommended I meet with my urologist again with this diagnosis in hand. This next appointment turned out to be what crushed me to my lowest low and the deepest rock bottom I had ever found myself. The urologist agreed with my diagnoses and went on to give me a devastating prognosis. She told me that I needed to immediately begin heavy doses of some of the strongest antibiotics available. These would be rotated to create a fake immune system and would be a permanent part of my life. She let me know that there was no real cure for IC. I learned that some of the drugs on the market provide relief temporarily but become ineffective over time. There were suggestions for pelvic floor treatments, drugs that numb the flank pain and bladder, and depression medicines. None of the options presented would actually heal the condition and all only addressed a handful of the issues I was dealing with. I learned that without a real immune system, my life expectancy was much shorter. And, during that shortened period, I would live with various levels of discomfort and symptoms. The news broke me in a way that I had never felt before. It was, after all, my greatest fear; that I might get sick and leave my children without a mother, just as mine had done to me.

I made it to my car before I burst into tears. I called my husband. We weren’t surprised by the seriousness; I had been very sick for almost a year by then. But it was the lack of any path ahead that brought us all the way down. I could climb up from rock bottom. I had proven that to myself before but there didn’t seem to be any path to take. Despite the miserable state I was in, I didn’t want to mask the pain or find temporary relief. I wanted to heal. And for this, there seemed to be no way ahead.

That night, after everyone was tucked in bed, I went to the kitchen, kneeled down on the floor, put my face in my hands and cried the deepest cry I had ever let out of me. My innermost sadness felt almost bottomless in that moment. IC had literally brought me to my knees and I was praying for hope. The old me was trapped inside a crumbling body and I wanted out with all of my heart. On that night I decided that I would learn everything there was about IC and that I would try to live as long as I possibly could, for my family. I would live well and full and happy for my kids or die trying.

My husband and I immediately hired an attorney and got our affairs in order. We made plans for the worst while keeping the smallest light for a way up and out. We quickly decided that I would not be taking the antibiotics prescribed. I had an instinct that the antibiotics I took months earlier had been a tipping point for sending me headlong into my condition. I was looking for a different path, a confident path. None of the doctors I had met gave me the impression that they had real surety in my diagnosis, prognosis or treatment plan. I needed a guru, someone to lift me by truly knowing what was going on inside me.

The next day I dove into research and read countless stories from IC patients across the country. It was then that I found – in two separated searches on the same day – two people who lived on two different coasts that were sharing eye-catching stories. What was most unusual was that both believed they were healed. One wrote that she “didn’t even think about IC anymore”, something I could hardly imagine at the time. The first person I found had worked with someone they repeatedly referred to simply as Matia; no last name or formality and it was obvious that they knew each other very well. In the second story, the writer regarded her guiding person as Boaz. There recounts were shocking and I was frozen taking it all in. I searched Matia and Boaz and IC and remember how what I saw on the screen put me back in my chair. They both worked at a placed called BomaMed; these two strangers had been heeled by the same source.

I was in terrible pain, couldn’t breathe well and was emotionally depleted when the person on the other end of the line answered the phone at BomaMed. She reassured me that I had found the right place, that I would be okay. I was stunned by their readiness and got so much comfort from the fact that I could tell the team was seasoned in receiving people in my deteriorated state.

The online form required to begin was extensive. I had to dig into health history and provide deep information on my body’s journey from birth to present. My first appointment with Boaz continued this research phase. He asked a lot of questions about my past and present situation. The anticipation for the first appointment was enormous. I was in so much pain and was crawling through each day using AZO to numb my urinary tract, nose drops so I could breathe at all, drops to clear out my eyes and a variety of creams in an attempt to control the rashes. I needed help and with everything that I was, I wanted this to be the answer for me. And, I didn’t even know what “this” was!

The first few appointments were an adjustment for me, particularly given how much time I had recently spent in traditional western medicine doctor offices. Boaz asked a surprising amount of questions, something that never occurred in the year of appointments that led up to this. He listened carefully to my answers and was quiet as he took down extensive notes. He spoke confidently and was un-phased by any of my symptoms. I got this very uplifting feeling of reassurance because he responded to my scenario as being common for someone with IC. I went from a year staring at the faces of expensive specialist wearing puzzled expressions into appointments where comment after comment explained exactly what I was living with day after day. With little prompting, Boaz often outlined exactly what I had been through up until that point. And, he always explained why the symptoms were occurring. And, I will never forget that early on, I told him what the doctors had shared as my prognosis. His simple response was, “But that is not the truth.” It was the way that he said it that made me know, even though we had hardly started working together, that I was at the right place. That I was going to be okay. That I had a good chance of getting well if I could learn what he had come to know.

I was excited and I could see the hope reflected in my husband’s face when I told him about my first upcoming appointment. That said, I left the initial appointment and discussion with Boaz with one simple instruction: to go get quality spring water and stop drinking anything else. And, to increase my water intake. I sat unmoved, frustrated that there would be several more days before I would talk to him again and all that I had to make me feel better would be some store bought water. My previous experience with doctors had trained me to think I should be leaving my appointment with something I would take that would start to work for me to make me feel better – an easy-button with at least some quick results. The idea that there would be effort on my part was foreign. So, I asked Boaz how long it would take for me to get well. I learned that it is different for everyone but that it took a long period of time to create my current condition and so it could take a while to make me well again. It was then that I realized I needed to accept the pace of true healing.

After the first appointment, I drank only Spring Water and I tried to consume a full liter more than I had been each day. By day four, my urine only burned sometimes and while I still had a headache, each day these became less severe. During my second appointment, I learned about the IC diet that had been carefully honed through decades of research by Boaz and his wife Matia. I was pleased to see that it was as clean as my family already liked to eat but was curious about why some foods I had always consumed were deemed off limits and others that I had thought would agitate me were staples. The list was more restrictive than anything I had ever tried but also revealing of new possibilities. I was determined and set up our home to fully embrace the change. And, I began to take some recommended herbs that were carefully designed to help slowly drain my lymphatic system of toxins and long-held pathogens, as well as, address my immune system condition and my gut imbalance. The appointments with Boaz brought me confidence and determination each week. It took a while for me to accept that what the western medicine doctors had thought were a slew of unrelated issues, were actually deeply connected and very common for IC patients in Boaz’s program.

The appointments with Boaz always started with a simple question about how I was feeling and then a series of questions that marked milestones and concluded with time for me to ask him questions that I had compiled during the days in-between our meetings. He has a wonderful way of teaching that is a blend of listening carefully and sometimes answering with a question that I need to answer for myself. Often times, Boaz teaches with a metaphoric story that creates, in my mind’s eye, an image of what is going on inside me. For example, it was a very exciting day when I was well enough to drink quality coffee but I was reminded that caffeine can be like fuel poured over a campfire – that the fire doesn’t last longer, it just concentrates it in shorter period of time. And, from time to time, Boaz would tell absolutely humorous stories of journeys he had been a part of over the years, all of which continued to help me feel empowered and less alone as I climbed up and up.

Early on, I supplemented my learning with researching about IC. I quickly found that most of the world was far behind the program created at BomaMed. I read Matia’s research book and worked to build my own knowledge of what my body was going through and how it was being healed. When you work with Boaz, you quickly recognize an enormous learning curve in front of you. Boaz and his family live in the future and with an awareness that most of us don’t know is available. My path to getting to live and live well took me into learning about how my body works and into deep reflection of my own life, all of the way back to birth.

Boaz often discussed aspects of my childhood with respect to how the gut and lymphatic system can be damaged over time. As an infant, I was colicky, making it more difficult for the mother/baby bond to be established. Later, the home and place for developing and safeguarding gut balance early on, was stressful and unsettling. These things played a role in laying the ground work for my immune system to be less effective. I recalled having migraines on the school bus on the way home from kindergarten. Most of my life I have been thwarting head pain, food reactions and stomach discomfort – all of which worsened when I had my children and as I aged. Boaz connected occurrences and milestones from my past to damage done to my body.

My first eight to 10 weeks on the diet and taking the herbs brought drenching night sweats, terrible body odor and bone crushing-fatigue. Sometimes I could hardly force myself to stand up. I had thought that I had lived a clean diet before working with Boaz but I had really just developed a hodge-podgy uninformed way of eating whole healthy foods that ultimately had made my condition worse. Things like coconut oil, gluten free breads, poorly raised eggs and some kinds of fruit had been severely irritating my gut. There were times that my body incessantly craved some of the old irritating foods that I used to eat. I then asked Boaz the question I am certain he must get from nearly all of his patients: when will I be able to eat all of those old foods again? When can I eat whatever I want? He simple responded with, “why would you go back to what created the condition you have now?” This comment stayed with me for weeks and eventually I came to fully break up with my old way of living, in favor of finding my way back to the amazing-ness of the life I had before. In the initial months, all of the detox and focus on a better way of living was in an effort to get back to where I was before.

With the new plan, I started to have full days without headaches and some days my face was much less puffy. The rash on my neck and chin diminished. I was beginning to sleep for longer stretches at a time at night and some of the congestion in my respiratory system had cleared out. My eyes cleared. I started to not have to go to the bathroom for several hours at a time and the burning had subsided.

Boaz also worked with me to rid other toxins from entering my system. I remember giving him two pages of products that I used for showers, make-up and hair routines. After trying some products from the natural store, that at first seemed non-toxic enough, I eventually filled our cabinets with toiletries designed by BomaMed’s BomaSense line. The first time I washed myself with the soap they crafted, I realized how important our skin is as a barrier. Boaz had told me many times but that day I experienced it. I washed and felt nothing. Nothing. Which I now hold in high regard. And, was so much better than something in those days. I used to always feel dry, itchy and burning. My skin was quiet with the BomaSense soap. I started to use their shampoo and conditioner and my hair became less brittle and so full and thick that I had to purchase a more robust brand of hair tie. My eyelashes were thicker too. I learned everything I could about what I put on my body. I became aware of what I allowed to get close to my skin. My nails, now without polish, grew out straight and a lovely healthy pink color.

My mood and cognitive capability was still not great every day but it took less to mind over matter each morning. Every time I ate anything, I still wanted to fall asleep at the table. On one airline flight I took, I had to breathe and pray for the entire duration. It was going through a flare and it felt like I was going all the way back to the beginning. The pain in my joints, need to urinate and anxiousness was overwhelming. But Boaz guided me through it. And, as he had let me know, these occasional flares were not setbacks. The enormous progress made was all still there and the length of the flares got shorter and the frequency of these episodes far less. What took a month to recover from only took one day to heal a year later. I went through several cycles of feeling a little better and then again further detoxing. Once in a while, I found myself completely peaceful, something I hadn’t felt in many years. I was healing but continued to focus on becoming completely well. And, I was beginning to see that anything was possible. With Boaz’s guidance, my body had overcome and become healthier than dozens of medical professionals had thought possible just months earlier. By the end of the fourth month, I had more good-feeling days than days filled with discomfort. The worst symptoms were well under control by the end of year one, but I wanted more.

As I embarked on year two, the focus was to diminish remaining symptoms more completely and to establish enduring health. Today, my home has a permanent point-of-use high-grade water filter for use by the whole family and for use during all of our cooking. Adhering to the diet no longer feels like a sacrifice; I can now see it was a necessary retraining on how to eat beautifully. My body and mind are glowing. My skin is as flawless as it was when I was a teenager. I can exercise now – harder and more intensely than before – and my muscles are properly fueled so the performance is beyond anything I have ever seen for myself. My nails, always natural now, are strong and even. My eyes are a brilliant blue with the clearest whites surrounding. My hair is shiny, long and full. Most importantly, I have immense cognitive clarity and a peaceful even mood. I had suffered from nightmares since I was 7 years old. Today, my disposition is even and open each morning when I wake and my nights are filled with uninterrupted sleep that lasts as long as 7 hours.

The second year brought astounding good health. Health that I didn’t know existed for me, a way of living that exceeded the previous “amazing” life I had thought I was working to get back to. And, with this came many surprises. I had been a part of a champion rowing team on a green algae-covered lake. For years, my teammates had complained of the odor of the lake. I never had any real sense of smell. I now smell the rank lake before I get out of my car to walk to the dock, as well as, the sweetness of my kids on my clothes after a good hug and the aroma of turkey-basil meatballs slow roasting. The glowing days of mental clarity and inner peace showcase a feeling and way to move through life that I want to possess day in and out. As I traveled the path and climbed up and up even more, my mindset moved from not wanting bad things to happen in my body, to wanting the best working systems possible.

The gift of a good clear mind and a quiet body is life changing. I now live with low anxiety and rarely find something worth stress – both things I previous thought to be from unmanageable origins like genetic inheritance, the conditions of my childhood or the years of pressure in my early career. It turns out that having a truly healthy body that is toxin free, balanced, fueled properly and well hydrated can give you copious amounts of good cheer. And, when this springs forth from such a sincere place, you become an experience for all around you. Living well, truly well, showed me how much the health of my body can impact the lives of my family and my staff at work. Becoming healthy and balanced has made the environments around me more balanced and calm.

I too can now say that I don’t think about IC anymore. I have been given the gift of knowledge for how to live my best life. Developing IC took me to the deepest rock bottom and caused me to face my biggest fear in life. It broke me down physically and mentally. Boaz taught me how to rebuild, to heal and to live well. On one of my recent appointments, Boaz said, “I’m not worried about achieving your objectives so much as achieving your potential.” What he knew was possible for me was beyond what I thought achievable for myself. It still brings me to tears when I think of that day on the kitchen floor or when I attempt to thank Boaz for my transformation; for the path shown and for teaching me how to climb up and up. And, for all the AMAZING unexpected joy.

Katie 2018

Now that our learning curve is over and we have gotten down all of the technical issues behind doing our own filming, editing, and posting, we will be more fluid with our videos on Youtube. We lost our videographer/tech person to a great, new adventure for him and had to learn how to do all of this ourselves just as we were getting started. We just posted one new video on getting started with diet for those who are new to this. We also posted one and in a couple of hours will post another, teaching video of Boaz’s which are really great! These will be great for newcomers as well as those of you who have been around for a long time. Listening to Boaz teach Chinese medicine is really special, as he is a great teacher of many things and Chinese medicine is definitely one of them. We hope everyone is slowly finding these videos helpful. And, look for more to come!

Dr.M

In treatment, it is often very important to isolate sexual fluids for the reason that, sexual fluids can often influence the symptoms of IC and vaginal challenges. The fluids of you sexual partner can easily affect physiology. That is a longer story and those of you in treatment understand.

This post is regarding a new natural form of birth control that is very cool for those of you not needing to abstain from your partner’s sexual fluids. I love this!

https://usa.daysy.me/technology/how-daysy-works/

I think the conversation chain on our last post was interesting in that the question came up about why we had chosen to give digestalac to a particular patient, especially given how effective it was for her. We had explained that
We often use supplements, including probiotics by viewing them inside the paradigm of Chinese medicine which gives us a very different view of why they would be used in a modern Western paradigm.

We believe that the blending of modern medicine and Chinese medicine allows us to make choices that may not be otherwise made and help people in this unique way. However, probiotics continue to be a huge topic and
certainly most of us whther we use them or not can see the value in the use of them in today’s world where healthy GUT flora continues to be the modern day challenge.

We most often use Natren 1, 2, 3 probiotic strain and NOT the 3 in 1 bottle. We also most often use the dairy free versiona dn only the capsules. The loose powder is formulated with a higher vitamin C content which tends to flare those having IC, so we have found that the powder inside the capsules, which only contains 3% vitamin C ios much more genlte and therefore much more effective.

We do also use Metagenic probiotics, the Ultraflora IB has been a favorite and from time to time PB8, Custom probiotics and some others. However, Natren and Metagenics continue to be our focus, Natren moreso, as we believe in isolating the bacteria one at a time and using them more in line with our Chinese medicine model.

When we are having a hard time with probiotics with a given patient, people will oftne come to us with their research and ask about the use of other. Xymogen is one that came to our attention in this way and we are “experimenting” a bit with that currently. Certainly there is no shortage of information regarding probiotics on the Web, but recently, a new blog source came to my attention that is researching probiotics and the asked us to share this with our readers.

You may find this at: https://www.reviews.com/probiotic-supplement/

As always, we share what we find interesting with the understanding that this is not quite how we make use of these supplements. However, taking the information and deciding how it applies to any given particlar case is always helpful. In this way over time, we have expanded our own pool opf knowledge. We hoep you find this helpful for you!

Dr.M & B

For those who have started to follow us on Youtube, we were very excited to post the new video today. However, this is a huge learning curve for us having no experience with media in this way. We realized after watching the second video that it was much too broad and without proper focus and ma cause confusion to those having no knowledge of our work.

Our goal is to start these talks in a way that can allow the listener to follow a thought pattern while having practical information that allows him or her to get started examining his or her own circumstances and to take that information to begin to be able to make practical changes at home or with their practitioner.

We have so much information in our minds after all of these years, and this is so exciting for us, we tried to say too much in the first time, and we believe it would not have set things off on the correct foot. SO, we are switching gears, putting ourselves in reverse, and starting again.

Please bear with us while we gain our momentum in executing this huge task. As we said, we are super excited and happy to finally be doing this! If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to notate them here or on Youtube. And, if anyone would like to start a conversation chain here. We are all ears.

Dr.M and B